I would be so happy to see a basketball star's salary go to a teacher.

[Mike 03]

I'm so conflicted. I'm all for capitalism and all that, but some of the discussions here on DU have really made me reflect on who has meant a lot to me, who has changed my life or, in some cases, saved it.

My life was never saved by a celebrity or a sports star. It was saved by a medical professional, a teacher, or a parent. More than often it was a teacher.

In fact, the people who saved me from total despair when I was in high school were a couple of teachers.

They literally saved my life.

The discussion here at DU lately has made me give second thoughts to some of the ideas being shared here about who should be taxed and where the money should go to.

I am having very strong feelings that teachers should be our first priority, then maybe medical professionals, nurses and others who just help people.

It's really shocking to back away psychologically from the Big Picture and see how we, as a nation, allocate our money.

What could possibly be more important than paying our teachers better?

And I'm sorry if this offends sports fans, but why must we pay baseball players fifty million dollars and make teachers go into their own pockets to purchase chalk or paper for their students?

I call that a fucking disgrace.

The most important people in my life were my teachers. I can type this without any hesitation whatsoever.

I honor them with my entire heart.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. I am with you

even split between 100 teachers would make for some happy teachers

[babythunder]

2. If your going to be outraged by what athletes make

you should also take a look at Sports Owners who basically make money just sitting on their asses. The NBA, NFL, MLB, make a billions of dollars off of these athletes so who should the money go to? Because if the athletes weren't being paid millions of dollars you can rest assure that money would remain in the owner's pockets.

[Double T]

3. Not me. A basketball star's salary could employ a whole factory full of people or.....

an entire call center full of tech support or customer service people. Most teachers have it better than anybody else and it is never ever enough.

[Incitatus]

4. We are not paying sports players salaries.

It is a business and the revenue from ticket sales and advertising pays their salaries. I agree that teachers need to be paid more and schools need more funding, but the market determines the salaries for athletes. I wouldn't object to taxing millionaires at a much higher rate, but I don't see the sense in singling out sports players. A lot of people whose jobs are arguably less important than teachers make millions every year

[vssmith]

9. Who buys the stuff that subsidizes the advertising whether they

like sports or not.

[Incitatus]

11. And there are taxes involved in those transactions.

If we need to enforce/increase corporate taxes and close loopholes, then so be it. Selectively taxing certain professions doesn't sound like a good idea.

[ellisD]

13. True, but we pay in other ways

like when millions of taxpayer dollars goes towards helping build fancy new stadiums or arenas. I personally could care less about professional sports, and whether or not a team decides to threaten to move because we wont shell out $100 million for a fancy new stadium because they don't like the old one they currently use... fuck em! Let them move, we'll use that money to build better schools and roads

[Incitatus]

14. I agree with that point.

The billionaire owners should build their own stadiums, but the players are the wrong people to go after.

[Naturyl]

5. I'd be happy to see a basketball star's salary go to the IRS.

And with it, maybe we could improve conditions for teachers, the poor, etc.

[femmocrat]

6. Proud to give this the 5th rec.

:hug: Mike 03

[ananda]

7. "Is Nolan Ryan Worth a Good English Teacher?" was an op ed..

.. that came out right after he became
the first player to get a million dollar
contract.

It stuck with me...

[UndertheOcean]

8. God know teachers deserve the money more

[Mudoria]

10. When somebody buys tickets to see a teacher work

get back to me..

[AndrewP]

17. Yes, Education is so overrated. I wish schools would fold.

Also, I wish they wouldn't put any athletes who commit crimes in jail. Just use their time on the basketball court (or insert your sport here) as community service.

Did Kobe Bryant rape that girl? Who cares! We need him on the court!

[Gemini Cat]

19. LOL! That's right. nt

[Synicus Maximus]

12. Basketball player are paid so much because their are so few

who can play at the pro level. There are 225 pro basketball players and maybe a thousand in the world who can play well enough that other people will pay to watch them play. If there were only a thousand excellent teachers in the country they could command much more then they currently make. But there are over 3 million members in the NEA alone. So there are many more teachers that can do an excellent or at least a very good job of teaching then there are people who can play excellent basketball. It is the same reason that a doctor makes more than a janitor. Both jobs are important but many more people can do a janitors job than can do a doctors.

[NYC_SKP]

15. There was a GREAT Cosby Show Episode that spoke to this idea...

Synopsis:

Griffin dreams that teachers are given the same elite status and pay as professional athletes; guests Ahmad Rashad, Greg Gumbel, Bryant Gumbel, Mary Hart, Bob Goen, Patrick Ewing, Jerry Rice, Doug Flutie, Elmo and Emeril Lagasse.

http://www.locatetv.com/tv/cosby/season-4/853061

[leftofthedial]

16. now THAT would be merit pay!

[AndrewP]

18. I totally agree with you

[classysassy]

20. Greed vs stupidity

The owners buy the teams(baseball,football,basketball,hockey),the tax payers build the parks and stadiums,the owners get tax breaks,hire their family members at outlandish salaries ,most of the players sign with crooks as their agents,most players come from poor families ,they know next to nothing about contracts and money,most of the players end up back on the streets after their careers are over,the owners and agents end up with most or all of the cash.There are a few exceptions to the rule,Dave Bing and Willie Davis are just a few that end up well off.

[GiveMeFreedom]

21. Comparing Apples to Oranges

I am in agreement with the OP.

Education is the most important part of our lives. Sports, especially professional sports, is entertainment.

When I sit,(and I have done a lot of sitting in my time), and watch a professional sports event, whether it be baseball,
Boxing, football, etc. I find that's it's entertaining. I root for my choice to win, squirm in my chair when they miss a goal
or fumble a ball, but when its over, I did not learn anything, other than some stats rattled off by some sports broadcaster or
color commentator. Now I know that there is a lot of money that's spent on sports, gambling, training, advertising, facilities, salaries, etc.

But what dose sports do for the average American? What does sports offer our offspring? What does it teach us?, not much, because it's fucking entertainment.


Education is what taught me to read, write, calculate, interpret, decipher, deduce, evaluate, study, compare, record, discern, manipulate, decide, use,
operate, drive, etc.

So comparing sports with education is like comparing apples to oranges, they are not the same.

and my last question?





If you can read this, should you thank a teacher or thank a middle line backer?

I would like to see a photo of the face of that middle line backer when you do thank him for teaching you to read?



edited for structure error....

[1]

22. i don't like basketball. we should seize all owners/players assets...

under the rico statutes.

basketball sucks...